Re: Insurgent
May. 22nd, 2012 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkA few more thoughts came to me after I'd finished the book.
- While I was reading the book, I was annoyed by the way Peter acted OOC. But thinking back on it, I'm really disturbed by how lightly he gets off any sort of karmic punishment. Heck, he stabbed Edward's eye out and sexually harassed and tried to kill Tris. So why does he get elevated to a savior/part of the team? Are we supposed to ignore the fact that he's a sociopath and sexual harasser? I just hate the way he's treated.
- Speaking of Edward, I was never comfortable with the way he "became" a nutcase and drove away his girlfriend. Considering his girlfriend (I can't even recall her name now...Myra, maybe?) left Dauntless just to be with him, the narrative is tremendously unfair to her. Also, if he's a nutcase, why the hell didn't he try to kill Peter on sight, or at least try to hurt him? If someone stabbed my eye out just because I was the smartest of the bunch, I would probably try to kill that person if I saw them again, and I'm not even as unstable as Edward.
- On a related note, why does Marcus end up being such an important character, such that he manages to avoid almost all karmic punishment, like Peter, while both of Tris's parents had to die at the end of the previous book? Sure, Four beats Marcus up, but it's implied that he didn't do it entirely for revenge. That whole scene really confused me; yeah, I remember the justification for his action, but it doesn't make sense to me, still. If he really did want some sort of revenge, then he shouldn't have had such a cold, clinical attitude throughout the scene. Otherwise, wouldn't he be too scared to beat his father up? I thought he didn't believe in the Dauntless manifesto of "beat people up to prove your bravery."
- After thinking about it, I realized that Will's death served no real purpose in the story, except maybe to add to the tragic atmosphere of the story. Christina forgives Tris fairly easily, which is awesome for Christina (I was really leery of the "you killed my boyfriend, I'll kill you" ex-friend trope), but takes away all the external conflict. Yes, Tris has a lot of internal conflict, but it never really goes anywhere except to make her angsty and "suicidal." She never has a single moment when she suddenly realizes it's okay to move on. Moreover, thinking back on it now, I realized that she's horrified by the fact that she shot him, but she doesn't seem to miss him as a person. She doesn't have flashbacks about good times they had together, or things like that.
- Did I mention there's no real climax to this story? There's no real climax. In the end, Tris couldn't get to the bottom of the mystery; she had to persuade Four to join her side and unlock the truth instead. I couldn't help feeling that Tris was very depowered throughout the entire story--partly because of her angst (although there's such a thing as a Badass Angster), but mostly because she was the one who ended up having to be saved most of the time, she's subjected to an incredible amount of suffering compared to every other character (even Four!), she's "reckless to the point of suicidal"...etc.
- Reading against the grain could give some interesting conclusions. I actually liked Divergent, for all its flaws, but if I were to read against the grain a little, I would think that the book glorified teen "punk" culture, with tattoos, piercings, black clothes and the like, and while I wouldn't say that the book glorified violence, it certainly didn't condemn it that much. How about for Insurgent? I guess my conclusion might be: angst depowers the female protagonist, who needs her boyfriend to reel her back from her "suicidal" tendencies. You can be a sexual harasser or child abuser, and that's "okay" if you serve some other purpose in the plot. Similarly, you can beat your abuser to a pulp (as...revenge? I still have no idea), and that's also "okay."
- While I was reading the book, I was annoyed by the way Peter acted OOC. But thinking back on it, I'm really disturbed by how lightly he gets off any sort of karmic punishment. Heck, he stabbed Edward's eye out and sexually harassed and tried to kill Tris. So why does he get elevated to a savior/part of the team? Are we supposed to ignore the fact that he's a sociopath and sexual harasser? I just hate the way he's treated.
- Speaking of Edward, I was never comfortable with the way he "became" a nutcase and drove away his girlfriend. Considering his girlfriend (I can't even recall her name now...Myra, maybe?) left Dauntless just to be with him, the narrative is tremendously unfair to her. Also, if he's a nutcase, why the hell didn't he try to kill Peter on sight, or at least try to hurt him? If someone stabbed my eye out just because I was the smartest of the bunch, I would probably try to kill that person if I saw them again, and I'm not even as unstable as Edward.
- On a related note, why does Marcus end up being such an important character, such that he manages to avoid almost all karmic punishment, like Peter, while both of Tris's parents had to die at the end of the previous book? Sure, Four beats Marcus up, but it's implied that he didn't do it entirely for revenge. That whole scene really confused me; yeah, I remember the justification for his action, but it doesn't make sense to me, still. If he really did want some sort of revenge, then he shouldn't have had such a cold, clinical attitude throughout the scene. Otherwise, wouldn't he be too scared to beat his father up? I thought he didn't believe in the Dauntless manifesto of "beat people up to prove your bravery."
- After thinking about it, I realized that Will's death served no real purpose in the story, except maybe to add to the tragic atmosphere of the story. Christina forgives Tris fairly easily, which is awesome for Christina (I was really leery of the "you killed my boyfriend, I'll kill you" ex-friend trope), but takes away all the external conflict. Yes, Tris has a lot of internal conflict, but it never really goes anywhere except to make her angsty and "suicidal." She never has a single moment when she suddenly realizes it's okay to move on. Moreover, thinking back on it now, I realized that she's horrified by the fact that she shot him, but she doesn't seem to miss him as a person. She doesn't have flashbacks about good times they had together, or things like that.
- Did I mention there's no real climax to this story? There's no real climax. In the end, Tris couldn't get to the bottom of the mystery; she had to persuade Four to join her side and unlock the truth instead. I couldn't help feeling that Tris was very depowered throughout the entire story--partly because of her angst (although there's such a thing as a Badass Angster), but mostly because she was the one who ended up having to be saved most of the time, she's subjected to an incredible amount of suffering compared to every other character (even Four!), she's "reckless to the point of suicidal"...etc.
- Reading against the grain could give some interesting conclusions. I actually liked Divergent, for all its flaws, but if I were to read against the grain a little, I would think that the book glorified teen "punk" culture, with tattoos, piercings, black clothes and the like, and while I wouldn't say that the book glorified violence, it certainly didn't condemn it that much. How about for Insurgent? I guess my conclusion might be: angst depowers the female protagonist, who needs her boyfriend to reel her back from her "suicidal" tendencies. You can be a sexual harasser or child abuser, and that's "okay" if you serve some other purpose in the plot. Similarly, you can beat your abuser to a pulp (as...revenge? I still have no idea), and that's also "okay."
